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MORAL ESSAYS,

EPISTLE

LE III.

то

Allen Lord Bathurst.

ARGUMENT.

Of the Ufe of RICHES.

THAT it is known to few, most falling into one of the extremes, Avarice or Profufion, y 1, &c. The Point difcufs'd, whether the invention of Money has been more commodious, or pernicious to Mankind, & 21 to 77. That Riches, either to the Avaricious or the Prodigal, cannot afford Happiness, fcarcely Neceffaries, 89 to 160. That Avarice is an abfolute Frenzy, without an End or Purpose, 113, &c. 152. Conjectures about the Motives of Avaricious men, 121 to 153. That the conduct of men, with respect to Riches, can only be accounted for by the ORDER OF PROVIDENCE, which works the general Good out of Extremes, and brings all to its great End by perpetual Revolutions, 161 to 178. How a Mifer acts upon Principles which appear to him reasonable, 179. How a Prodigal does the fame, 199. The due Medium, and true ufe of Riches, 219. The Man of Rofs, 250. The fate of the Profufe and the Covetous, in two examples; both miferable in Life and in Death, 300, &c. The Story of Sir Balaam, 339 to the end.

每日

N.Blakey inv.& del.

G Scotin foulp. Who sees pale Mammon pine amidst his Store, Sees but a backward Steward for the Poor; -This Year a Reservoir, to keep and spare?; The next, a Fountain, spouting thro his Heir...

on Riches.

Ep: on

P.

EPISTLE III.

WH

HO fhall decide, when Doctors difagree, And foundest Cafuifts doubt, like you and me?

You hold the word, from Jove to Momus giv'n, That Man was made the standing jest of Heav'n ;

COMMENTARY.

EPISTLE III.] This Epiftle was written after a violent outcry against our Author, on a fuppofition that he had ridiculed a worthy nobleman merely for his wrong tafte. He justified himfelf upon that article in a letter to the Earl of Burlington; at the end of which are these words: "I have learnt that there are "fome who would rather be wicked than ridiculous; and there"fore it may be safer to attack vices than follies. I will there"fore leave my betters in the quite poffeffion of their idols, their groves, and their high places; and change my fubject from "their pride to their meannefs, from their vanities to their mi"feries; and as the only certain way to avoid mifconftructions, "to leffen offence, and not to multiply ill-natured applications, "I may probably, in my next, make use of real names instead of fictitious ones. P.

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VER. 1.. Who shall decide, &c.] The addrefs of the Introduction (from 1 to 21) is remarkable: The poet represents himfelf and the noble Lord his friend, as in a conversation, philofophifing on the final caufe of Riches; and it proceeds by way of

NOTES.

VER. 3. Momus giv'n,] Amongst the earliest abuses of reafon, one of the first was to cavil at the ways of Providence. But as, in thofe times, every Vice as well as Virtue, had its Patron-God, MOMUS came to be at the head of the old Freethinkers. Him, the Mythologists very ingenioufly made the Son of Sleep and Night, and fo, confequently, half-brother to Dulness. But having been much employed, in after ages, by

And Gold but sent to keep the fools in play,
For fome to heap, and fome to throw away.
But I, who think more highly of our kind,
(And furely, Heav'n and I are of a mind)
Opine, that Nature, as in duty bound,

5

Deep hid the shining mischief under ground: 10

COMMENTARY.

dialogue, which most writers use to hide want of method; our Author only to foften and enliven the dryness and severity of it. You (fays the poet)

-hold the word from Jove to Momus giv'n,

But I, who think more highly of our kind, &c.
Opine that Nature, &c.

As much as to fay, "You, my Lord, hold the subject we are "upon as fit only for Satire; I, on the contrary, efteem it a "cafe of Philosophy, and profound Ethics: But as we both "agree in the main Principle, that Riches were not given for the "reward of Virtue, but for very different purposes (See Essay on "Man, Ep. iv.) let us compromise the matter, and confider "the fubject jointly, both under your idea and mine, i. e, Sati"rically and Philofophically."—And this, in fact, we fhall find to be the true character of this poem, which is a Species peculiar to itself, and partaking equally of the nature of his Ethic Epiftles and his Satires, as the best pieces of Lucian arose from a combination of the Dialogues of Plato, and the Scenes of Ariftophanes. This it will be neceffary to carry with us, if we would fee either the Wit or the Reasoning of this Epiftle in their true light.

NOTES.

the Greek Satirifts, he came, at last, to pass for a Wit; and under this idea, he is to be confidered in the place before us. VER. 9. Opine,] A term facred to controversy and high

debate.

VER. 9.-that Nature, as in duty bound,] This, though lu dicrously, is yet exactly, expreffed, to fhew, that, by Nature,

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